Narnia: The Fallen Angel

Epilogue || Part One

Many have their own perception of death, but few end up living to tell the tale of experiencing death. Some figure that it's harsh and lifeless, subject to an eternity of aimlessly wandering without a purpose. They figure it continues to pull you down into its dark abyss, ripping you away from reality and leaving you with nothing but hopelessness. Imagine hopelessness for all eternity, imagine no hope. There would be no reason to live then, no reason to wake up to the rising sun every day and go to sleep with night blanketing the skies. The world would be stripped of life, left in solidarity with only animals roaming its surface.

That was one view of death. Others see it as a never ending sleep, filled with nothing but peace. Dreams would fill your mind, all of which are mostly memories that you've failed to look back on. Your life would be on a loop, constantly playing over and over again so that you could relive in those moments again. This death sounded wonderful, much more so than the belief that death was miserable torture. Nevertheless, Death was the perfect paradox; at least that is what Crystalline believed.

Once her life slipped from her grasp, she was sucked into oblivion, with nothing more than the sensation of falling in her wake. She wondered when she would touch the ground, or if this in itself was death: falling. Nonetheless, she wasn't scared. She felt as if she was falling into a sea of tranquility, a sea of eternal rest for her burdened soul. Suddenly, the darkness dissipated and she was able to see herself falling from dark grey skies. Hair whipping all around her, she looked at the nearing ground fearfully. Then she scolded herself, remembering that she didn't have to fear death anymore; she was dead.

Crystalline slammed on the surface, a cloud of dust forming from impact. She expected pain, shortage of breath, but it never came. She simply stood up, and looked at her surroundings, or the lack there of. It was a barren wasteland, the midnight black ground contrasting the stormy grey skies above. There was no sun, nor moon, yet it was still bright. The absence of wind conjured a deafening silence that lingered over the land and into Crystalline's very being. She didn't breathe, it's not like she needed to since she wasn't needing air to live anymore. She wasn't even sure there was air in this place, it's not like dead people need air.

"Crystalline..."

She whipped around, hearing her name echo all around her. It was a woman's voice, soft and tender. Crystalline stood still, trying to figure out if there indeed was a voice calling out for her, or if it was a fragment of her past. But this woman's voice was nearly unfamiliar, only the soothing tone ringing a few bells in her mind. She couldn't put her finger on who it was, but the voice kept on calling for her.

"Crystalline..."

"Crystalline..."

The young angel was growing more overwhelmed with the escalating sounds which trembled the ground below her. The voice grew louder and more anxious, almost as if it was suffocating her in the velvety sound of her name. Her name was repeated more and more, almost as if it was near to Crystalline, taunting the girl as she tried to maintain her composure. What is this place? What is happening to me? She asked herself as she whipped around feverishly, trying to find the source of the overbearing voice.

"Crystalline..."

"Crystalline!"

"Stop!" Crystalline screamed and collapsed to the ground. Her hands were pressed tightly to her ears and her eyes were clamped shut, almost as if she was trying to imagine herself disappearing and going into another place in death. Sobs wracked her body, heaves and cries escaped her lips at the realization that she was completely and utterly alone in death. No one here to comfort her, to reassure her that death wasn't all that bad. She was right to fear death, for all it did was strip her heart away and tampered with it, aiming to destroy what was left of her joyous life.